Credit: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
There is no way to sugarcoat J.J. McCarthy’s performance for the Minnesota Vikings this season. He has been so bad that they literally were better off when he was on the sidelines.
Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, the former Michigan signal caller spent the entire second half throwing for a net-negative-one yard, to go with two interceptions. At 4-7, the Vikings’ 2025 season is unofficially in the tank.
This, after spending the second-most amount of any NFL team last offseason in free agency. And now, with six games still to play this season, winds of change are already starting to howl around insider circles across the league.
JJ McCarthy could be out for Minnesota Vikings
After the quarterback’s latest clunker, ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano is now looking for a change under center between now and the start of the 2026 NFL season. At the very least, Graziano expects the MN Vikings to bring in some stiff training camp competition for JJ, ala Daniel Jones this year in Indy.
If nothing else, the Vikings will want to bring in a veteran quarterback to add to their young QB room. Think about what the Colts did this offseason, signing Daniel Jones (who, ironically, finished last season with the Vikings) to compete with Anthony Richardson Sr. for the starting job. Jones beat out Richardson, and the Colts are a first-place team.
McCarthy has six games left on the ledger for the Minnesota Vikings this season. That assumes he can stay healthy and on the field, which isn’t straightforward because he hasn’t shown a great ability to do so thus far. And, just today, Coach Kevin O’Connell said that McCarthy has entered the concussion protocol following yesterday’s beatdown.
At just 2-4 through his first six career games, the evaluation period becomes the only thing to measure the rest of the way. An accurate passer at Michigan, McCarthy owns a putrid 54.1% completion rate this season. He has six touchdowns and 10 interceptions while taking a whopping 20 sacks.
There is no way to sugarcoat just how bad he has been. Of course, he could improve between now and the start of 2026, but Graz believes he will have to earn it next summer.
Veteran challenger is where the Vikings went wrong
Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
The question this offseason should have never been about Minnesota bringing back Sam Darnold. Regardless of the 14 wins, or two final losses, he was always going to be expensive. It was fine to let him explore greener pastures.
Bringing in a veteran doesn’t guarantee a similar result, and it’s possible that McCarthy could make enough advancements this offseason that he would win a competition against an outside veteran.
But unless the final six games of this season look a heck of a lot different from the first six games McCarthy has started, Minnesota is going to have to look at every potential option going into 2026. The Vikings can’t throw another season away while waiting for things to click for their 2024 first-round pick.
However, that’s not the case with Daniel Jones. The former New York Giant chose the Vikings, and loved his time in Minnesota. The franchise offered him more money than the Indianapolis Colts, but they told him that McCarthy was their guy.
Jones wanted a chance to start, and there was never a reason to let him believe that couldn’t happen here. He went to Indianapolis and beat out Anthony Richardson. He should have been given the same assurances by the Vikings.
McCarthy got zero real practice reps last year, and had plenty of warts coming in. At best, he could have eventually taken over for Jones as was the intention with Darnold a season ago. Now the Vikings have wasted an entire season and need to make the right call in 2026.
Mentioned in this article: Daniel Jones J.J. McCarthy
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